good intentions

I had a nice entry to put here, but blogger strikes again. There's some error making it impossible to post photos. This has been happening a lot. All I can say is "grrrrrrr". Hopefully a real entry soon.

naan stop

A few nights ago we had Mutter Paneer (well, tofu actually) and I made a huge batch of naan. I use this recipe a lot. Mostly because the majority of naan recipes I encounter have yogurt in them and I just don't always have plain yogurt on hand. It was pretty delicious and it's really easy to make as long as you don't mind cranking your oven up to 550. I find that preheating the oven with a couple of pizza stones in it works really well. I bake about 3 at a time. It takes a round or two to get into the rhythm, but once you do, you'll start to feel confident enough to make jokes about opening your own Indian restaurant and calling it, yep you guessed it, Naan Stop. Maybe the heat was getting to me.



It seemed like fall was all stalled out, but suddenly overnight the colors are finally here. They always seem to sneak up on me. We've been hiking at Huntington Reservation few times a week. I didn't even take the camera, feeling like colors hadn't changed enough, but of course I was wrong. Deciding not to take the camera is pretty much always the wrong decision. Other than that there's been a lot of soup making and dvd watching. I realized that there are few things as great as discovering a really funny tv show and watching it all in one go on dvd. I also discovered that there are few things as disappointing as realizing you are caught up with said show and you have a years wait before you can watch another episode.

I watched the Godfather for the first time. (I know, I know, I'm not sure why it took so long). I was really struck by how visually beautiful it was, the colors in particular. The whole movie (actually 1 and 2) the color scheme is almost entirely muted neutrals with these shots of burnt orange. I tried to find a picture to show you, but I couldn't find one that wasn't filled with weapons. I can't get those colors out of my head. Unexpected inspiration.



I decided it was time to take part in the Pay It Forward Exchange. I think it's a great idea and I joined up on Jen's page. It works like this: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.Such a good idea.

So, comment away and enjoy this October Sunday (Actually, by the time blogger behaved...Tuesday).

craft in America

I finally got a chance to see the PBS series Craft in America. I was so sorry that I missed it when it originally aired. The topic is one close to my heart not just because of the work that I do, but because of the craft world I grew up in. My parents became involved, very young in the reemerging craft world of the seventies. My dad worked as a traditional blacksmith for a very long time. The smell of coal still immediately takes me back to the forge where he worked when I was little. This was my dad's day job. To make extra money as young newlyweds my parents managed a variety of food related businesses within the very large craft show that friends had began. Everyone we knew was involved my grandparents, aunts and uncles and most friends of the family. Our family history is full of stories like "The year the pancake booth caught on fire".

Later my mom began making hatboxes. She had a tiny spot in our tiny laundry room with a tiny black and white TV, where she would work when she wasn't chasing after my brother who was a toddler at the time or when she wasn't at her regular job. My parents were very interested in the Shakers and my dad began learning how to make Shaker boxes, working in the basement where the ceiling clearance wasn't much more than his height of 6 feet. Slowly he began to work on more and more complicated projects, eventually creating beautiful furniture pieces.



The shows we did were often based on colonial and traditional crafts so they usually involved colonial costumes. As a little girl obsessed with Little House on The Prairie, this was fine by me. I feel pretty certain that all the years spent around reenactors and other crafts people obsessed with historic accuracy had a lot to do with me choosing History as a major so many years later.

I think it's so interesting what an integral part of life craft is. The social role it plays is astounding. Before craft blogs or dare I say, the internet, the craftsmen looked forward to the craft shows where they could swap gossip and gain inspiration from one another. I suspect that this social connection is why my grandmother at the age of 81 still manages the Commissary at one of the largest craft shows in the country. I also think it gives my parents a great deal of pleasure to see that my generation is picking up where they left off and reinventing what craft means.

velvet lily pads

We had the great fortune of getting a big bad of organic Pink Lady apples at the West Side Market for one dollar. A few were a bit bruised, but they were perfect for cooking with. Every time I take one out, I think "A dollar!" in my head, so happy am I of this great luck. I've been thinking of lots of delicious apple recipes, but as it turns out so far I've ended up making only one apple recipe twice because it was so delicious the first time. Dutch Babies are a tradition in Devin's family where they are baked plain and then topped with a delicious sauce of fruit, butter, and sugar. I came across this recipe with apples and had to try it. Typically it is made in a cast iron skillet, but we don't have one of those, so I just use a glass pie plate. You could also divide it up into individual portions using a muffin tin. The batter is almost identical to Yorkshire Pudding batter and I follow the rules of my English grandmother here- all ingredients at room temperature.

Apple Dutch Baby

2 apples peeled, cored and sliced
1 1/2 Tablespoon butter
1/3 C. sugar or honey (or more to taste and tartness of apples)
cinnamon to taste
3 lg eggs
3/4 C. milk
3/4 C. flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a skillet saute apples, butter, sugar,cinnamon until apples begin to soften.

Whisk together eggs and milk. Add to flour and salt and mix together.

If you are using a cast iron skillet you can just pour the batter right over the apples and pop it into the oven. If you aren't I like to melt a little butter in the pan I am using and place it in the oven for 3-5 minutes to heat up. Then I add the apple mixture and top with the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes.
Top with powdered sugar and cinnamon if desired.

I wish I had a picture for you, but it's most delicious when it's right out of the oven and disappears quickly, so...



I've been reading Abigail Thomas' memoir A Three Dog Life. The essays chronicle her life after her husband is in a terrible accident chasing after the dog in Manhattan traffic. After the accident, he lives in an assisted living facility existing in the most present tenses, unable to recall time after a few moments. I just wanted to share one of my favorite parts of the book, aside from when he calls dog's ears "velvet lily pads" which is so lovely and perfect.

Thomas is writing about the assisted living center's art studio where many of the residents spend time working on projects and finding new life through art. She tells this brief story: "There was a young man who had arrived at the Northeast Center angry and belligerent, as inclined to take a swing at you as not. He began showing up in Bill's studio and started to paint. Bill watched him become an artist, and gradually he stopped being at the mercy of his rages. He got well enough to leave the center and move to a group home. This is what he said to Bill before he left: "What is art, anyway, except not pounding on walls."

finally autumn

Oh,have I been neglectful of this space.I was feeling all inspired and ready for autumn when a heatwave hit.(Read Shari's sentiments on the same topic here.)
It just made me feel out of sorts. Finally, though autumn has arrived. I have a habit of spending a great deal of time in my head composing lines to place here, and then, having done so forget to realize them. I do this with letter writing and even phone calls.Thinking is not the same as doing. I have lots I want to share, for now I will leave you with some pictures of the autumn light.

Shop Update

I've updated my etsy shop with some new items including some special seasonal editions. I loved sorting through all my things to handpick these images especially for this fall. I was thrilled to receive my first jewelry order and to send it off to this lady. I hope you enjoy it!
The laptop is going to the Apple store for some diagnostics, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again. Hopefully soon. In the meantime, I'm listening to this,
being so inspired by this blog, and loving all the happy,puppy love here.